


Stolen Thunder

by FangurlOfAllFangurls



Category: Great News (TV 2017)
Genre: Boss/Employee Relationship, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-12 02:12:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17458634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FangurlOfAllFangurls/pseuds/FangurlOfAllFangurls
Summary: Carol steals Katie's thunder. Greg wants to help put a stop to that.My take on how "Awards Show" from season two could have gone down.Some scenes are skipped or changed slightly.*Greg and Cat are on the outsDisclaimer:*I do not own or claim rights to this show





	1. Chapter 1

It was quite an unexpected day at MMN. Today was the day they saw some poor sap unwittingly take the brunt of Chuck's frustration at the news of once again not getting nominated for the Journalism Awards. This year was the exception. As they sought refuge in the conference room they cringed as they saw Carol cross paths with Chuck. Oh dear. They could see Carol was oblivious, rambling on and on to a seemingly agitated Chuck. He seemed to be on the verge of a blowup. They rushed out fearing Chuck was about to "take Carol out." To their utter surprise, Chuck had other plans. He threw up his fist in victory. "We did it! We finally got nominated!" They all cheered in excitement. Beth took the opportunity to share her news of impending motherhood. They all smiled congratulating her. Then Greg shifted the attention. "And a special congratulations to Katie in her solo nomination." He turned to her smiling. "Thanks guys, it's such an honor-" she stopped, staring at her mother who had been word-for-word mimicking her every word. Carol apologized and Katie continued. "I couldn't have done it without you-" they all stared at Carol again. And again, once more, rambling about how excited she gets. She zipped her mouth looking at Katie to continue. "I just wanted to say... that. you know what, nevermind, I lost it." She trailed off disappointedly. "Katie, that was beautiful!" Portia said in aw. Looking at oblivious Portia awkwardly, they all gave one last cheer before heading back to work.

Not long after, Katie bursted into Greg's office. "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" She said with a panicked expression, slightly out of breath. He looked up from his papers, seated on the couch. "Yep, about literally anything, except your mother." She deflated turning to leave his office. "Just tell me what Carol did." He said impatiently, taking pity on her. She sat down looking at him with relief. "Well, nothing yet. But I'm nervous about the awards show. Every time I'm up for some kind of recognition, she finds a way to make it all about her." He looked at her sympathetically. "These awards are really important to me. I'm going to be in the same room as all of my idols. I get to hobnob, I've never hobnobbed before! I just don't want to spend the whole night nervous that she's going to make a scene. Is that crazy?" She looked at him for reassurance. "What's crazy is that you're even asking." He said grimly. "Of course she will!" She groaned. He sighed trying to help her come up with valid reasons why her mom couldn't come.

Nothing seemed to give Katie much comfort. She eventually settled on lying and blaming it on Greg. He got flack from not only Carol, but everyone else as well. He looked at Katie exasperated. Seeing her smile he couldn't contradict her now! He took the fall for her, begrudgingly. Later at lunch, Greg couldn't seem to stop thinking about what Katie said. Carol did have a propensity to make things all about her. Katie didn't even get to make a proper toast and she damn well deserved it! The least he could do was take the fall for Katie so Carol couldn't come to the show and steal Katie's thunder.


	2. Chapter 2

The rest of the day came in a blur. Greg did his best to avoid his peers. All of whom seemed to be pretty pissed about the "no plus-one" thing. Hopefully by the evening everyone would be so high on excitement about even being eligible to come to the ceremony that they wouldn't be able to dwell on not bringing a plus-one. And to be honest, he was a little relieved to not have to bring Cat. He was exhausted from all the excuses he had to make, to get out of things all the time, because she had some kind of drama. He still regretted not joining Katie for "C-Span and chill" as she called it. All because Cat had some ex-drama. He shook his head of his thoughts, straightening his bowtie. Let's do this!

The car ride to the ceremony was fairly uneventful. It was quiet on the streets. Unusual for a place such as New York. It was late friday night, "where on earth is everyone?" He wondered to himself. He turned off his GPS reaching his destination. He circled the lot until finally, he found a spot. Wayne was right, they should have all car-pooled. But he wasn't willing to take the chance he'd be stuffed in a car full of people who were still sour about their inability to bring a plus one. Turning off the engine he looked at his watch. "Everyone should be here by now, I might as well go in." He thought to himself. Walking through the lot he was taken aback by the celebrity of it all. This was quite a feat for his motley crew. He smiled proudly to himself. He saw as people went in, no doubt, to scour the bar before the show. Nothing like a drink for those pre-awardshow jitters. That's when he spotted her. She was in a long burgundy gown with her hair up in a tight bun. As he made his way closer, still unseen, he noticed her gown was adorned with delicate flowers. She looked stunning. He must have been staring far too long because the next thing he knew, he had a man slapping him on the shoulder. "They just don't make 'em like that anymore, do they?" He mused to the ogling, british man. "So much for keeping a low profile." He muttered to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

"Greg, Greg! Over here!" Said a delighted Katie tugging his arm towards their now-forming group. They made their way in. Before he could say a word Chuck started in about the last time he was there. Apparently there was an abundance of cigarettes back in the day. He watched in amazement as Katie took everything in. She was like a kid at Disney World! It was ador- charming...endearing? He couldn't seem to quite land on a neutral word. He took a moment took look around, taking it all in as well. "This is such a magical night! All my heros are here and since I got nominated, they're all going to know my name!" She was absolutely giddy. Chuck gave her a double thumbs up in support. "It has you listed here as Cody Winklebink." Portia said suddenly, reading the event line-up. Katie instantly deflated. "At least you don't have to worry about your mother ruining your night." Greg offered in consolation. "She's fine. I'll send her a picture so she feels like she's part of it." She gathered everyone to send a group photo to her mom. "Smile!" Just then Carol popped up from the middle of the group. They all gasped in surprise. Although, it shouldn't be that surprising. It is Carol after all. "Surpriiiise! I got hired as a seat-filler!" She rambled on excitedly to Katie. Greg couldn't quite make all of it out. All he made out was "isn't that great?" And "our award." Katie's face spoke volumes. "Oh dear," Greg thought to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

The group all went to find their assigned table while Chuck was summoned over by some other Anchors. Katie had also wandered off to...he had no idea where she gone off to. He shrugged disappointed. " _I'm sure she'll turn up. Probably has to track down Carol._ " He mused. That's what it was. He decided not to worry about it too much. When the group went to sit at their assigned table, Chuck got invited to sit with the other independent male news anchors. The rest of the group made their way over to their table grumbling. They felt like Chuck had abandoned them. He did his best to reassure them. "Chuck did not abandon us. He's like a dog. Sometimes he gets distracted and he runs off but he's loyal to us, because we're his family." They nodded in acceptance of what he was saying, Portia going a step further to liken Chuck to a dog in the way you have to trick him into taking pills. That seemed to lighten the mood even if just slightly.


	5. Chapter 5

Eventually they all decided that waiting around had gotten boring. Especially since the only "food" they'd been offered was from a vending machine. They all made their way to the photo prop area deciding to make the most of the night. They grabbed the props, each looking as ridiculous as possible and began taking poses. Greg really wished Katie was there with him-them. _With the group_. If he was honest with himself, he didn't have many photos of the group let alone of him and Katie. Carol had seemed to bring on a sense of camaraderie in them. Exhausting as Carol could be, he was grateful to have her around. _Most of the time._ Greg was interrupted of his thoughts by a very loud, very denigrating, Chuck, who it seemed, was on the other side of the curtain. He was suddenly glad that Katie hadn't been there to witness that. It would have crushed her. And then, let's just say he'd have to "put their loyal dog down," in other words, Chuck would very much be in the proverbial doghouse. They would ice him out for weeks. They yanked back the curtain to scowl at him. Chuck stared at them in panic. It looked like his overcompensation to be accepted by his older peers had lost him the respect from his team. _Oh he was in the doghouse indeed_. Even his steadfast companion, Justin, had turned his back on Chuck and his despicable, reprehensible behavior.

They pulled the curtain back to it's original position, taking off their props. Suddenly their team spirit had dwindled down. The fun crashing to a grinding halt. "That rat bastard!" Gene ground out in disgust! "Ugh what a turd! A pox on him!" Added Beth. "Er.. yeah! What a... a butthead!" Justin contributed lamely. They all looked at him pathetically. It was no secret that Justin revered Chuck. Even now it was difficult for him to conjure up any negative words against the man he considered a father figure and hero. They all looked at him appreciatively, patting him on the back. He had tried and they admired his effort. It was not lost, on even Justin, that Chuck's behavior was indefensible.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Meanwhile Katie seemed to have made a friend amongst the chaos that had just occurd. Greg couldn't help but notice it was a very admittedly attractive male friend. He grimaced. While he was grateful Katie had been spared one fire in the night, he knew there were sure to be more with Carol apparently on the loose. While it was important that "The Breakdown" had been nominated, he couldn't deny that this night was more about Katie. He was quite proud of her achievements. " _Perhaps I should focus some time on telling her that more often."_ He considered to himself.

Katie made her way back to the table seeming to have forgotten about her handsome new friend. She sat nervously next to Greg. It took everything he had in him not to reach out to her in support as her category was called. They held their breath in anticipation. She tried not to panic that she had lost track of her mother. The winner was announced and Katie deflated. He looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry, Katie. You deserved that award." She smiled sadly. "It doesn't matter. My mom's about to "Kanye" this speech." The winner had spoken impossibly slow due to her condition which, in fact, her report on had won her this category. When the winner had finshed her agonizingly slow speech Katie exhaled in relief. "My mom missed my award!" Katie said in relief, pausing then. " _My mom missed my award.."_ she repeated, this time, in a seemingly disappointed revelation. And with that she disappeared again.


	7. Chapter 7

As Katie went to search for her mom, Greg couldn't help but eye the handsome stranger that had captured her attention. He was not proud to admit, if only to himself, that he was incredibly jealous of the time he had occupied with Katie. He saw Katie come out of the women's room, looking uncomfortable as she followed a European man who appeared to be throwing Carol out. As he witnessed the exchange, the man looked apologetic and left Katie and Carol to argue. He sighed. Sometimes you just had to ride it out.

They seemed to quickly reconcile heading back towards him and their group. He was admittedly ecstatic that Katie had chosen to sit next to him again. She held out her hand to him in good spirits about the Breakdown. He looked at her skeptically but was soon won over by her dazzling smile. He followed suit, extending his hand to Beth who extended hers and so on. Chuck was rightfully excluded from this demonstration. He felt Katie squeeze his hand when they were about to make their announcement. He stroked her hand in response. And in a moment, it was all over. They had not won. Carol seemed more disappointed than any of them and Katie decided to pull a "Carol" move and "Kanyed" Chip and Chet. He smiled as she praised their team and cringed when she awkwardly realized what exactly the winning News Anchors had done. She looked panicked handing the mic back, apologetically, only for Chuck to grab it. In his own way he reiterated what Katie had said, praising their team. Next was Portia. It was then that Greg suggested they all leave, before the cops remove them. They nodded quickly scurrying out, back into the lobby. As the others filed out, he searched for Katie. She had just made her exit when she encountered "Mr. Charming" again. They seemed to be hitting it off from what he could see. He frowned walking outside.


End file.
